


Intersections

by DeanDaniel



Series: Crossroads [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Childhood, F/M, M/M, Snippets, Telltale Paths, ah yes children, extras of the story, the pinnacle of cute or not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-01 19:39:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10928676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanDaniel/pseuds/DeanDaniel
Summary: Some small snippets of the cast's day to day life without all the drama in Telltale Paths. A compilation of moments that never made it to the story itself but was too precious to cast aside





	1. Chapter 9 misc: Coffee introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this I say! 
> 
> Yes this small little compilation that would be comprised of happier moments, I don't know for sure if I'll have sad times or if this will have a lot of moments in between the story of Telltale Paths. Intersections is somewhat of my break from the story itself as I'm still trying to solidify how to get from point A to B. So here it is, just those quiet hours of living for the cast.

The rain hadn’t let up even as the sun was supposed to rise and bathe the world in a warm glow, although it didn’t storm as hard as it had last night, the morning rain was light and pleasantly cold, light enough that you would be able to go out in just a jacket and not end up soaked. Although none of this mattered to two certain boys who were too occupied to notice the weather.  
  
“Drink it, I dare you to drink it”  
  
“What? No! Do you want me to die or something?!” The following morning found Kaito and Shinichi alone yet again, the two Kudo parents _had_ joined them for breakfast but was quick to dash out for some sort of vague errand, the result of their abrupt getaway being certain breakfast items left half finished. One of which was currently the center of interest for the two boys.  
  
The both of them peeked up at the warm mug in front of them, half their faces hidden by the table, only allowing for their eyes to be seen over it as they stared wearily at the object, this being a mug of coffee that Yusaku had failed to down before Yukiko pulled him out the door. The boys had stared at the mug from their seats for a time before quickly jumping down together and gathering around the strange drink adults seemed so enamored with. Kaito sent Shinichi a laughing smile “You chicken now Shin-chan?”  
  
Shinichi glared at him “Am not! Mom said this is an adult drink! We could like _die_ and junk! Kids aren’t supposed to drink it! That’s why it’s called an _adult drink_ ”  
  
The young magician rolled his eyes “Pfft! Just _one_ sip Shin-chan! It’s not gonna hurt ya” He grinned and placed his hands on his hips, turning to fully face his friend “Unless you really _are_ chicken”  
  
Shinichi crossed his arms, also turning to face his friend “Am not!”  
  
Kaito began to make chicken noises, sometimes even flapping his arms “Chicken!” He exclaimed and proceeded to move around Shinichi like a chicken.  
  
His friend growled at him “Kaito stop!” He was ignored. After having to suffer through Kaito screeching into his ear in what he assumed was the noise chickens made when they’re dying, Shinichi threw his hands up and groaned loudly “FINE! If it’ll shut you up! But if I die I want you to know, I’m gonna haunt you until you puke your lunches!”  
  
Shinichi grumbled unhappily and marched towards the mug still sitting innocently on the table top, the coffee within it had probably gone cold by now. Shinichi reached up and took it from the table, he blanched at the swirling black liquid inside it, he even felt his stomach flip at the prospect of putting even a drop of it into his mouth. He looked up at Kaito’s grinning face, pleading and miserable “I don’t think I really wanna do this”  
  
“So you admit you’re chicken!” Kaito happily told him but was quick to save himself when Shinichi looked as if he was about to throw the coffee at him “Hey hey! How about this? If you manage to drink at least a mouthful of that without puking, I’ll drink the rest of it, deal?”  
  
Shinichi bit his lower lip and looked down at the mug in his hands again, the black liquid sloshed menacingly as he tilted the mug from side to side, he grimaced, well if he was going to die then might as well drag someone down with him. Shakily he swallowed and nodded “Deal”  
  
As quick as he could he stopped breathing and took in a mouthful of the black liquid, Shinichi set the mug behind him faster than he intended once the taste practically murdered his taste buds, the young Kudo slapped a hand over his mouth and began to make gagging sounds, reaching blindly behind him to use the table as support as he hunched over and began to shake.  
  
Kaito on the other hand began to laugh as he watched his friend try to swallow the apparently disgusting liquid, he wiped nonexistent tears from his eyes just as Shinichi managed to make the coffee go down his throat, he then guffawed when Shinichi suddenly lurched and the gagging noises returned tenfold “This isn’t- HURK!- funny!!”  Shinichi was sure that the stars he was seeing wasn’t supposed to be real, he gagged again and that was when he decided to run off to the kitchen in search of something to alleviate the bitter taste in his mouth.  
  
Kaito’s loud laughter followed him “Oh man! Shin-chan I didn’t expect you to react like that!” He sighed and moved towards the mug, he grabbed it and stared down at the black liquid, he gave it a quick sniff “Hmm, doesn’t smell that bad, something that smells good can’t be bad right?” Kaito drank the rest of the coffee and immediately regretted it. The bitter taste exploded in his mouth and all he could think about was how loudly his sugar filled soul was crying in agony at the betrayal he had committed, a betrayal of the highest caliber, he was sure that this was something he would never forgive himself for.  
  
He gagged. Slapping both his hands over his mouth and quickly ran to the kitchen where he saw Shinichi shoveling a spoonful of sugar into his mouth “OUTTA THE WAY!!” Kaito slid beside him and basically threw the whole bag of sugar into his mouth, Shinichi managed to get the bag away from him before it emptied but Kaito already got a mouthful of the sweet crystals, by the look of his face he was immensely relieved by it despite the mess he made.  
  
 With loud audible crunches, Kaito swallowed the sugar in his mouth, he sighed in relief “Augh! That was awful!! Coffee is evil!” He wiped his tongue with the sleeve of his pajama shirt, letting it hang outside his mouth with a grimace “Ugh”  
  
Shinichi on the other hand tsked at him and stored the sugar bag back inside of the cabinet he found it in, not before taking one last spoonful of sugar when he could still taste a hint of bitter coffee “ _Adult drinks_ ” He reminded his friend, frowning at the sugar stuck to his face and clothes, he sighed and handed him a towel which Kaito thanked him for as he cleaned himself up as much as he could.  
  
“Yeah yeah, adult drinks, let’s never do that again” The two of them sat side by side on the floor, sometimes sending the mug that Kaito accidentally forgot to leave behind some pretty nasty looks “I don’t get why grown-ups would even _think_ of putting that in their mouths” Kaito stuck his tongue out at the mug and shook his head vigorously, disgusted by the willingness of anyone who would think bitter tasting things belong anywhere near their taste buds.  
  
Shinichi on the other hand shrugged “..Well it wasn’t _that_ bad I guess, the taste kinda gets better, maybe you just like it when you’re an adult?”  
  
“Gross, as if I’ll _ever_ like evil coffee!”  
  
Ignoring Kaito’s start of a whine Shinichi stood up and offered his friend a hand “Whatever, now that we both know that your ideas are awful and that I should stop making deals with you, let’s just go get changed, you got sugar all over me and I’m starting to feel really sticky”  
  
Kaito grinned at this and- in fairness- Shinichi should have expected to get a face full of sticky hands. Not that he forgave Kaito for getting his hair disgustingly smothered in sugar, heaven knows how long it took to actually get all of it washed out, though he would still sometimes catch a lock of his hair stuck together- even almost mistaking his perpetual cowlick for one at some point, oh how Kaito had laughed.


	2. Deleted (Chapter 8-9): Ignorance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The kids have gone through enough grief and this one just added too much stress than necessary, but I liked the scene with Ran and the quiet contemplation between the two boys so here it is.

“Ah?! Hey that’s CHEATING!” Ran glared at Kaito sitting in front of her then at Shinichi who was innocently looking at his own set of cards. _‘Innocent, yeah right’_ Ran scoffed to herself then kicked Shinichi a little with her foot, causing the other boy to topple to the side a bit and let go of some of his cards. Understandably, Shinichi shot her a mirroring glare while Kaito snickered from where he was seated. Ran huffed “Next time, I don’t want ANY of you sitting next to me! Especially you now Shinichi, you big fat _traitor_!”

“What?! I didn’t do anything!” Shinichi defended but Ran saw that quick quirk of the lips that he did, along with the amused grin Kaito was sending him from across them. She hardly believed it, but somehow Shinichi found an accomplice that for once wasn’t her.

Ran had come to think and worry that her best friend would stay, well just that, _her_ best friend. She knew by now that Shinichi wasn’t exactly the best social butterfly, as much as he tried to be his methods of socializing….it’s something only select people could appreciate.

At first she was really happy to have someone close to her, someone who knew her and she knew well, and she had to admit that when you get to know him, Shinichi was actually a really sweet boy. Then she started noticing more and more things about her best friend.   
  
As sweet and open as he could be with her, he never spoke so calmly and casually to anyone else, he always had this wall up between him and everyone and often times it led to him isolating himself from their peers. She would always notice the way his demeanor changed when, at certain times, she wanted to spend time with other friends, usually she would invite Shinichi along but one look at the new faces would make him close up and shoo her off without him.   
  
He didn’t know but sometimes Ran would look back at him before she left, and he would just be there sitting on his chair, kicking his legs and staring out the window, somehow creating a barrier as no one would approach the space he occupied.

Ran always worried about him when she wasn’t around. Whenever she couldn’t see Shinichi she had this upsetting pit in her stomach.

Though, she felt that she didn’t have to worry too much anymore.  
  
“Really Shinichi??” Ran raised an eyebrow at him in full accusation “Then you weren’t telling what cards I had in my hand to Kaito over there? Who, by the way, always guesses right after you tap your fingers when you look at me?” Shinichi laughed shakily and that was proof enough for her, he was never the best liar, he had too many tells to count but she wasn’t _really_ mad.

“Awww, Ran-chan does that mean you don’t believe in my magic anymore?” Kaito piped up after a long time of just watching them “I mean of course I would _always_ guess right, magicians are good at that kind of thing! You clearly haven’t watched a lot of magic shows”

Ran simply scoffed and jabbed her thumb at Shinichi “I don’t need to see a magic show to know that Shinichi was telling you. I know when my _best friend_ is lying to me thanks”   
  
Kaito laughed but wow that sounded fake, it was enough to make Ran furrow her eyebrows in concern. She tried to ask him what could have been bothering him but Kaito had beaten her to the punch “Yeah, I guess I forgot that you guys know _everything_ about each other. Nice try though right Shin-chan??” He stuck his tongue out to the side and grinned at Shinichi, his other mood completely gone.

Ran was still concerned about it but of course Shinichi wouldn’t notice anything and just shrugged at Kaito “I don’t think I should be the one doing this anyway” He threw down his remaining cards and groaned, stretching a little to pop his stiff limbs “Plus, it’s gotten kinda dark already since we started, so we’ve been here for a while, I think we should stop”

Just after Shinichi had said those words, the only girl with them suddenly shot up with a gasp. Ran whipped her head around until her eyes landed on a wall clock, she shrieked “WHAT?! I THOUGHT- SHINICHI!” She turned to her best friend and grasped his shirt in her hands, shaking him violently “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TELL ME WHAT TIME IT WAS!!”

“Wha- but I-?!” Shinichi sputtered, a little surprised himself. Whenever Ran came over to visit he always kept track of the time, just like she had asked when she came over earlier, but somehow even he became too distracted to know when it became so late “W-Well, you can’t a-always rely on me!! YOU should h-have kept track y-yourself!!” He managed in between her shaking. Seriously, does Ran think of him as some sort of personal alarm clock??

“Hey!” Kaito came in between them, cards flying behind him as he scrambled to separate the squabbling duo “Don’t fight! You guys shouldn’t start blaming each other like that! Come on we’re all friends here right??” He thankfully managed to get Ran to stop trying to scramble Shinichi’s brains in from the inside, but it was evident that the girl was still a little jumpy as she kept glancing at the clock with wide eyes.  
  
“I’m not supposed to be out for this long..” Kaito heard Ran mumble.

“Don’t worry too much about that okay?” Shinichi offered after he had managed to stop the world from spinning around him “This isn’t the first time you stayed over for so long anyway”  
  
Ran sighed “ _Exactly_ ” She said, looking even more worried than ever “Mom’s been getting really annoyed because of that since she keeps telling me to come back home early and it doesn’t happen” She frowned at the two of them “She keeps telling me that both of you are starting to become a bad infl..inflaw..uhm..i-influence? Yeah! Influence” Ran smiled at being able to remember the word but quickly lost that smile after remembering what it meant. She turned to Shinichi “I think she’s..thinking of it like that time in the pit Shinichi…”

Shinichi sucked in a breath, one Ran didn’t notice but Kaito heard. The young magician turned worried eyes over to his friend, he knew that look Shinichi was giving. How could he forget? His friend was clearly uncomfortable and distressed at the thought of having to relive what might be a really bad memory.  
  
 He couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like to be purposefully separated from the only friend he ever actually has. That thought alone made Kaito a little upset with Ran’s mother, if only she knew how bad it was to actually isolate Shinichi like that, she would have to think twice about her actions. In an effort to calm his friend, Kaito snapped his fingers in front of him and produced the signature small white flower he had come to associate with him.

Shinichi blinked at the tiny thing and let out a breathy laugh “Back to the basics? I thought you were doing harder flowers these days” He was still a little tense but Kaito knew he had managed to distract him at least. Tentatively, Shinichi took the flower from him and examined it like he did when they first met, Ran stared at it in wonder as well, both curious and amazed that Kaito was able to produce it so fast and seemingly out of thin air “I never really asked you…” Shinichi started as he passed the flower over to Ran who began to poke it to see if it was real “But what kind of flower is that?”

Kaito grinned “Find out for yourself tantei-kun” Was all he said. Shinichi rolled his eyes but there was a touch of fondness to it “Anyway, we should really send Ran-chan home now” Kaito stood up and helped both of his friends up as well “We don’t want her to get in trouble right??”    
  
“Oh my! Is it this late already??” Yukiko stepped into the living room that the children were occupying, she glanced at the clock and gasped “Oh I’m sorry Ran-chan, I forgot about the time as well! Augh…Eri is going to have my head for this, she probably thinks I’m planning to hold you hostage nowadays” She hurried over to the children “Now Kaito, Shinichi, I’ll be the one to take Ran home for today. I think it would be best if I would be the one to face Eri about keeping Ran here so late” Yukiko blew out air from the side of her mouth, making a stray hair float upwards and land gently on the side of her head “Ran-chan say goodbye now okay? It was nice of you to visit” Yukiko said, a smile on her face, but her voice gave away hidden distress that she hoped the children didn’t catch on to.

Ran nodded and took the older woman’s hand as she ushered her towards the door “Both of you better not get into trouble while I’m gone!” She called over her shoulder with a smile “Bye Shinichi! And it was nice to see you again Kaito-kun! Bye!”   
  
Kaito grinned at her and waved her off “You too Ran-chan! Be careful!” Kaito vaguely heard Shinichi say his goodbyes to his best friend as well as he watched Ran skip out the door with Yukiko until the door shut behind them. The magician hummed and looked around him to survey the mess they left behind “I guess we’ll have to clean up again”

“Don’t remind me” Shinichi sighed but made no move to actually clean. Instead he sat back down and kept staring at the door. The young Kudo hugged his legs closer to him and almost jumped in surprise when he felt Kaito sit and lean against him, following his eyes to stare at the door as well.

The two sat in silence for what seemed like hours, but of course, Kaito was never one for silence between them “So….I’m probably missing something but is the door some sort of new mystery for you Shin-chan?”   
  
Shinichi simply shrugged and buried himself further into his arms, not even bothering to make any kind of retort in response to Kaito’s obvious jabbing “Don’t you think that..too many people are leaving through that door these days?” Shinichi finally took his eyes away from the door, instead he looked towards the ground “I mean, usually there would always be at least one adult around us, even in _your_ house. Now though….sometimes they leave us alone for _hours_ and it’s starting to freak me out a little”   
  
Oh boy. Kaito was hoping that Shinichi wouldn’t point this out. True, this was something he was noticing more and more of these days but he liked ignoring it better in favor of not panicking in any way. Still, he realized that as he ignored this he was purposely ignoring how Shinichi was feeling, which wasn’t the usual case, he had gotten to know Shinichi’s cues and warnings by heart so finding out how distressed his friend was becoming only made him feel worse about the situation.   
  
With a frown, Kaito looked away from Shinichi and back at the door, what exactly was he supposed to say? He didn’t have any better clues as to why the adults were suddenly becoming frequently absent in their lives. Truth be told he _wished_ he knew, for the sake of at least reassuring Shinichi, but as far as he knew…well he didn’t.

“Look Shin-chan” Kaito started, sighing out the words “I don’t like this either but I already talked to my dad remember? He said they were just helping him and my mom get back to Ekoda” That sounded too much like an excuse, especially when he said it out loud, but it was the best explanation he could offer at the moment, besides he trusted his father. He knew his father wouldn’t lie. He had always been so open with him, even with his tricks that he kept a secret from everyone else. Kaito trusted him.

“Yeah I know he said that…” Shinichi mumbled “But…you really think that’s really it? Have you seen my dad? He hasn’t slept for _days_ and mom looks just as bad…..” The young Kudo picked on the cards on the floor, trying to find something to do with his hands “It shouldn’t be that stressful to help a friend right?”  
  
Kaito _really_ wanted to diffuse this conversation. With the disappearance of his dad followed by those of the adults, he had enough time to accumulate an unhealthy amount of worry and stress dangerously tipping over to the edge of emotional exhaustion. The magician held in a breath “They have their reasons” He pressed even more, clenching both his hands into fists “I…I know my dad hasn’t been in good shape either- BUT-!” Kaito breathed, he could feel himself shaking “b-but I know it’ll be okay in the end, cause- cause dad will make it okay”  
  
Shinichi frowned at his reasoning. Despite accepting nearly half of Kaito’s blabber this past year, he found this one the hardest to swallow “Kaito…”  
  
“Shinichi please no” Kaito turned away from the hand that tried to reach him, forcing Shinichi to draw his hand back with a flash of hurt “Look I um…I like your detectiveness a lot but please don’t try to solve this one okay? Promise me”   
  
The young Kudo grimaced at what was being asked of him. He didn’t want to make his friend even more distressed but….he _hated_ not knowing something even more. Although, just one look at Kaito’s face, seeing all the stress buried underneath the surface, he decided that maybe just this _one time_ ignorance would be embraced, no matter how much it bothered him “…yeah fine, promise”   
  
Kaito brightened at that, though not by much. The young magician nodded, to what he wasn’t sure, and pressed his face to Shinichi’s shoulder “Thanks Shin-chan….”   
  
Shinichi sighed to himself and stood up again, almost making Kaito fall forward with the sudden movement “Whatever, let’s just clean up okay?”


	3. Chapter 8 (deleted): Sparks that fly

“Grounded for a week Kuroba” Shinichi placed his face in his hands with a groan while Kaito awkwardly patted his back in hopes of easing the oncoming anger he knew was about to get directed at him as soon as Shinichi got out of his misery.   
  
“If it means anything, I got that _and_ had all of my props confiscated, and hey, at least it isn’t _two_ weeks right?”   
  
The young detective peeked at his friend through his fingers “Isn’t that a _heaping_ shame” It was said with no real sympathy and Kaito hadn’t expected anything less, he winced and clasped his hands together, leaning against the step behind them on the cold outside staircase they were sitting on, their parents conversing not too far from where they are. It looked like Ran’s mother was still apologizing to Aoko’s father about punching him in the face, Ginzo didn’t seem all too bothered but he saw the officer send them disapproving looks ever so often.

Aoko and Ran however had done the same thing that Kaito and Shinichi did and went off from their parents to talk to each other, if he had any guesses they were probably bonding over the fact that they thought the two of them were insensitive idiots. The young magician blew out air “…maybe next time you shouldn’t listen to everything I say…..”

Shinichi glanced at Kaito from the corner of his eyes, his friend was looking down at the ground and biting his lower lip, Shinichi knew that look: Kaito was blaming himself for everything that happened. With a sigh the young detective leaned against his friend, startling Kaito from his self hating reverie “…Did you see the way Ran started freaking out? Priceless” Shinichi chuckled softly when a memory regarding his other friend came into mind “The last time I saw her _that_ freaked out was when we went to this horror house, I thought I was gonna go deaf”

Kaito’s amused grin slowly made it’s reappearance, he bumped Shinichi with his head since his friend had leaned against his shoulder “Wow, you’re secretly a mean person. Laughing at the misfortune of your friends, Aoko _fainted_ Shinichi, be a bit more sensitive than that”

Despite saying that, Kaito had the same laughing smile on his face as Shinichi had, looking up at him from his bangs Shinichi decided he really rather preferred that expression on Kaito’s face, it just wasn’t normal to see him down. Shinichi sighed “Expect that I won’t be helping you with anything like this for a long _long_ time”   
  
“Fair enough Shin-chan, I dragged you down with this ship enough times already”

They stayed quiet for a while, then Shinichi started up a new conversation “Is it true?...you’re going out of the country this Christmas?”

He said it in a low voice but Kaito had heard, the young magician exhaled deeply through his nose and shrugged, careful not to jar Shinichi’s head on his shoulder “Mhm, tou-san’s supposed to perform in another country and he wants us to come with but….” Kaito spared a quick glance at his parents with a frown “I’m pretty sure I won’t be allowed to go anywhere, if I had to guess I’ll be stuck in whatever hotel we’ll stay at as some sort of extension punishment for this”

Shinichi scoffed and sat up straight again, Kaito frowned at the loss of body heat and shivered at the cold that hit him like a train once his friend had left his personal space “You deserve it oh mastermind of this whole mess”

Kaito shoved him lightly but he was chuckling “Oh yes, I _am_ a mastermind aren’t I?” His smile turned a little less amused and more resigned afterward “It’s gonna be a boring Christmas”   
  
“Hey, you get to go to another country”  
  
“That I probably won’t be able to explore”   
  
Shinichi shrugged at that “You’re still there at least, new scenery and all” The young Kudo smiled sadly at his friend “You know….I was kind of hoping that we could all spend Christmas together” Shinichi looked up at the sky and watched some dark clouds get swept away by the wind “I thought it would be nice” He paused when Kaito hadn’t said anything, Shinichi blushed and ducked his head “What? Gonna make fun of me?”

Kaito blinked at that, shaking out of his shock, he waved his hand “N-No! No! I just….I was thinking the same thing…” The two boys stared at each other then burst out laughing “We have the worst kind of timing”   
  
“The _worst_ ” Shinichi agreed with a shake of his head.  
  
 Kaito shrugged and smiled at his friend “We always have next year you know” Shinichi smiled back at him “I guess we do, but now…well we’ll have to deal with our punishment and boring Christmases”   
  
A pause “As long as you give me my Christmas present” Kaito added.  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes “Same goes to you idiot magician” They both decided that that wasn’t such a bad thought.  
  
When they all had to part ways, both Shinichi and Kaito had to say their apologies again for all who were unfortunate enough to be affected by their plotting.  Aoko and Ran both punched them in the arm but had accepted their apologies. Despite the mayhem they had caused, the girls admitted that it was certainly a meet up they wouldn’t forget, added to the fact that Toichi’s show was spectacular they were willing to let it slide. At least it had all ended with a positive note, and with that everyone had gone their ways back home.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
It was the new years when it arrived, Yukiko called Shinichi back in and the child had reluctantly left his father to watch the fireworks alone. The ex-actress excitedly pushed a wrapped box into Shinichi’s arms and handed him the phone, quickly leaving to take his place at Yusaku’s side to watch the fireworks and give him some privacy. When Shinichi greeted the caller he had to pull the phone away from the loud voice that greeted him “MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS SHIN-CHAN!!”   
  
Shinichi chuckled, tucking the box underneath his arm to have a better grip on the phone “It’s happy new year right now”   
  
“Eh, I still have a few more hours over here and I only got to give you your present now so it’s merry Christmas between us Shinichi”   
  
The young detective sighed “Whatever, I’m not even gonna fight you on this, I’m way too tired”   
  
He heard Kaito snicker “Oh! And be sure to not hold your present the wrong way, it breaks easily”   
  
Shinichi paled and fumbled with the present under his arm, he had switched the way it was facing when he took it from his mother “Wait seriously?!”   
  
At Kaito’s laughter he growled and glared at the phone “Oh my god I knew it! Ahhh, relax Shin-chan! I didn’t send you anything that breaks, I know you’re too reckless for that kind of thing”   
  
“Says the living dynamite” Shinichi snorted but set his present down gently just in case Kaito was going to pull his leg twice.   
  
“Boom boom~” Kaito teased “Seriously though Shin-chan, I hope you’ll like my gift, weirdly enough it’s hard to have that thing made”   
  
“Custom made? I’ll be sure to appreciate it then” Kaito’s soft laughter made Shinichi smile, he looked down at the wrapped present and began to open it while keeping the phone at his ear as Kaito told him all about London and how they were doing. He was a little surprised when he was greeted with the sight of a rather large deerstalker, it was definitely too big for him and would probably swallow his head if he tried to wear it, he scoffed but rather found it highly amusing.  
  
Upon closer inspection he noticed something embroidered inside of it _‘For the world’s greatest detective’_ It was done in silvery thread “Shin-chan? Are you still there??....man don’t tell me he hung up…..” Kaito spoke into the phone after noticing that his friend hasn’t said anything in a while.   
  
“Kaito…” Shinichi’s voice came through again and the magician hummed, showing that he was paying attention “You’re an idiot”   
  
“Wha-? HEY! What did I DO?! Shin-chan that was mean! You don’t just call people an idiot for no reason!” Even as Kaito went on and on about his rudeness, Shinichi couldn’t stop smiling as he listened to his friend’s voice, holding the handmade deerstalker cap close to his chest. He was going to be honest, he felt _really_ happy, Kaito and he may not have started out well but with the way they were going now? Shinichi was fairly certain that the young magician was quickly becoming a very good friend, one that he wasn’t keen on losing ever.   
  
As the fireworks outside whistled and coated the city below in awing colorful lights, two boys kept each other company despite being worlds away as a brand new year came to welcome all. Shinichi and Kaito couldn’t have a happier new year then at that moment, talking to each other from a distance and laughing about nothing in particular, bidding the old year goodbye while setting sights on the new, both waiting to see what new adventures they’ll find themselves in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. That's it. This is fluff and it's Christmas wheeeeeh.

**Author's Note:**

> Telltale Paths could honestly be read without them as in my drafts they're considered miscellany, but I suppose it would make Shinichi and Kaito's relationship in the main story sweeter and harder to break with some of the moments of life they go through together here.


End file.
